COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: LITTLE MERMAID AND TIVOLI GARDENS--EXQUISITE! NOT FINISHED

Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Copenhagen, Denmark
63F and rainy

The Little Mermaid

I started the day at 6 a.m. BECAUSE I could not find MY medallion last night and I knew that since today was a “turnaround” day the front desk would be very busy and I better get moving early. My medallion was in a Princess bracelet that I have had for years and the whole bracelet must have fallen off in my short trip from dinner back to the stateroom last night.  Evidently the Princess medallion printer was not working, so they gave me an old-fashioned key card like hotels use. I knew this was going to be an interesting day.

Every single passenger was required to disembark for immigration purposes, so at 8:15 a.m. TK and I headed to the port area to catch the Princess bus for the City Tour and Tivioli Gardens.  There are 1089 guests going on to Boston---I mentioned yesterday that it was suggested we take a tour because lines would be long in the morning for guests boarding the ship.

Denmark has a population of over six million and is about the size of Wisconsin, according to Natalya, our guide for the day. It has 1400 islands, but only 70-75 are permanently inhabited.  Denmark is a Constitutional Monarchy, but the king as no political power.  The monarchy is over 1000 years old.

Domed building is the King' s palace

Many "canals" in Copenhagen

Copenhagen seems to be a series of islands with dozens of bridges. Its core population is 660,000 residents.  As we drove along, the streets were clean, bridges all over, old and new architecture, bicycles everywhere, even in the rain.

Natalya said that bicycles are more important the car and she told us to be sure to stay in the pedestrian sidewalk area. She also said that Danes are not afraid of the cold and even swim in the winter.

Hans Christian Andersen is one of their beloved story tellers—e.g. The Ugly Duckling, Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes—and our first stop was the iconic Copenhagen bronze statue, the Little Mermaid, on the Langeline Promenade. Some say the statue is over-rated, but I definitely wanted to see her, as it evokes strength, love, and dignity to me. Created in 1913 by Edvard Ericksen, it has been vandalized and recreated multiple times. She endures!

Little Mermaid
Iconic statue in Copenhagen

We stopped by the Copenhagen Opera House, the most expensive to build in the world ($370 billion in U.S. dollars). Finished in 2005, it has five connected stages and seats 1500-1700 people. We did not enter.

Copenhagen Opera House

On our way from the port

Magasin du Nord

A shopping center I did not go to!

Tivoli Gardens—nothing like taking 30 senior citizens to an amusement park for 1.5 hours in the rain. That said, it was beautiful! Natalya said that Walt Disney visited Tivoli in 1951 and the park inspired Disneyland. It was built in 1853, 183 years old—the 2^nd oldest operating amusement park in the world! (Number 1 is Dyrehavsbakken (aka Bakken) located in Klampenborg, Denmark, which opened in 1583!)

Entrance to Tivoli Gardens

Gardens all over!

I had a burger here-very tasty!

Those round objects

hanging from the tree are

hanging flower baskets

A few rides we saw

Fountains galore!

Peacock #1

Merry Go Round

Peacock #2

He even posed for me!

Tivoli has one of the world’s oldest operational wooden roller coasters, called Rutsjebanen.

Goodbye, Tivoli!

We could definitely see what might have influenced Walt Disney—the perfect gardens, food halls, fountains, elegant restaurants, clean walkways. Tivoli was beautiful.

When we returned to the ship, the lines were unbelievably long, and we waited 1.5 hours to board, even though we were “In Transit” guests. We have never experienced such a kerfuffle on Princess before. People were irate/furious—both those people boarding for the first time and those in transit. It will be interesting to see how Princess tries to smooth this over.

We are ready for a sea day. And no Starbucks mug nor LEGOs. Our tour did not stop to shop…

SKAGEN, DENMARK: WHERE THE NORTH SEA AND THE BALTIC SEA COLLIDE! AND, CELEBRATING 42 YEARS!

Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Skagen, Denmark
60F and sunny

Happy Anniversary in Denmark!

Today we were in Skagen, the northernmost town in Denmark. It is globally famous as the exact point where two seas—the North Sea and the Baltic Sea—collide. Skagen (pronounced roughly like Skayne) is a resort town, a fishing port, and apparently an oil freighter hub--we saw lots of oil freighters docked outside the port. Its population is about 12,000 but attracts about 2 million visitors annually. TK is theorizing that the North and Baltic Seas are becoming very popular for cruise ships and Europeans because of the cooler weather.  The Mediterranean, other areas of Europe, and Great Britain are experiencing very hot weather.

We took a shuttle to town ($8 RT/pp) and found a charming village with brightly colored homes, walkable streets, and very friendly people.

Florist and Garden Center

Hens and Chicks!

Shelves of LEGOs inside!

LEGO was originally created by Ole Khristiansen, a carpenter from Denmark. The name LEGO comes from the Danish phrase “leg godt,” which means “play well.”  Today the company is still owned by the Kristiansen family. Today LEGO is manufactured in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, China, and the United States.

Street View

Our first stop was a bakery for coffee and a Danish apple twist. The owner was making cinnamon rolls as we walked in, the dough rising as she was waiting on us—how I would have loved to sit right there until those rolls were baked! 

Sanne's Deli for apple Danish!

We continued our sauntering walk, past a lot of winter clothing sales, shoes, boots, coats, sweaters, jackets—the Danes are preparing for winter. We were told that along the sea the winter is really not too bad, but inland—watch out!  I do think Erie’s winters could go head to head with some of these countries, except, as they say, inland and farther north.

$27.86 for a senior citizen haircut

Public Art!

I will admit that the languages we have encountered (Danish, Finnish, Swedish, and Norse) are difficult to get a handle on. My Latin, French, and German do help some, but I haven’t even figure out the word for street in any of these languages.

Dear Readers, you can skip the next few paragraphs—it is astounding to me that the smaller countries we have visited along the Baltic Sea all have different languages, from Romance language roots to Nordic/German roots. I have been trying to sort out the languages, and this is what I have come up with.

Scandinavian languages:

Scandinavian languages, also known as North Germanic or Nordic languages, belong to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. They are traditionally divided into East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) and West Scandinavian (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese) groups based on historical and linguistic features. While Norwegian, and Swedish are mutually intelligible to a significant degree, Icelandic and Faroese retain more archaic grammar and vocabulary, making them less accessible to speakers of the other Scandinavian languages

Vikings

I also did not know there were many types of Vikings. They were not a single uniform group but originated from Scandinavia, specifically Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Danish Vikings, or Danes, were the most politically organized and focused on raiding Western Europe, including France and England, and were the first to largely convert to Christianity by the end of the 9th century. Norwegian Vikings were renowned sailors and explorers, venturing to Iceland, Greenland, and even North America, and were considered the bravest and most adventurous. Swedish Vikings, often called Varangians or Rus, traveled eastward along rivers like the Volga and Dnieper, remaining pagan longer than their western counterparts and engaging in trade and raids in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

So, Danish Vikings, Swedish Vikings, Norwegian Vikings—I have a lot to learn!  And I digress.

Back to Skagen.

Before we take a trip, I always research what cities/countries consider special souvenirs. My research for Skagen indicated a candy store, Bolcheriet.   I probably spent an hour in the shop watching the candy being made. They make candies the traditional way, by hand, and they use all natural ingredients and flavorings. All of their candies are boiled over an open fire and the mass of candy is “pulled on a hook.” The shears the candy maker used were 125 years old, and the extruding machine is over 80 years old (German made he said).  They say they do all of their work in front of an audience, and I can attest to that. Perhaps we purchased delicious candy here!  

Bolcheriet--candy shop

extraordinaire!

Pouring the candy mixture

onto a metal pan

A snippet to stretch

Natural food coloring-

green, red, white

for strawberry!

Stretching red

Starts out amber

After a lot of pulling,

it becomes white

He made a sandwich of 

green and white for the 

strawberry stem and

background

The extruding machine

Voila! Strawberry candy!

Delicious!

Apothecary

After watching the candy maker, we headed for the ice cream shop. TK loves salted caramel and I had strawberry—so perfectly delicious!

Earlier in the day we discovered that TK’s “Medallion,” had fallen off his lanyard.  That is the way the ship identifies its passengers, and every passenger must have his/her medallion to board the ship and disembark.  We thought of several options. TK would live in Skagen, perhaps find a job in one of the shops, or he could be a charter fishing captain. I forgot to mention—he also neglected to bring his wallet to town. He had no ID. He confessed to the shuttle driver, and I thought he might be taken off in handcuffs. Back at the port, the shuttle driver dropped him off at Danish security. The policeman took him to the ship, and TK was back at our stateroom almost as soon as I was! With a new medallion!

And, SURPRISE!  We were greeted with Happy Anniversary decorations!! Forty two years with this sweet guy!! He gave me a pair of Baltic Amber earrings!

TK’s Takes: People were the nicest yet. Very clean town. Wouldn’t mind living here. 

Questions answered! 

Donna, I cannot believe I did not say in the blog in Visby the Swedish meatballs were divine! Real mashed potatoes, gravy without fancy spices and herbs, and meatballs that you could write home about!

Ann and Donna--I pack lots of pieces of bubble wrap (Amazon is good for this!) in the suitcase lining. I wrap fragile items in that when we pack to go home--I also bring masking tape.  As far as room for the Starbucks cups, I will be offloading most of the books I brought. Plus, we will have room in our carry on bags. We were  hoping for one more cup tomorrow in Denmark, but Princess encouraged a tour because immigration is going to be tedious in Copenhagen.  That is why they pushed the tours--so many guests leaving and more coming on (this was really two cruises).  We have learned on this trip that Princess is leaving scant time for "on your own" and that is what we love.  All that said, we always worry about weight and breakage!

Jim--there are lots and lots of really tall people-men and women, well over 6 ft. Not all are blonde!

OSLO, NORWAY AND NORWEGIAN EXPLORERS!

Monday, August 17, 2026
Oslo, Norway
63F and sunny

Sunset sailing out of Oslo

Sunrise today from our balcony

Sailing into Oslo

Approaching Oslo on the Oslofjord

Delightful!

Oslo, the capital city of Norway and another cosmopolitan city! Our cruise ship docked near the center city, so we had an easy “on our own” walk into the hub. Of course, we stopped for coffee and shared a delicious cinnamon bun first.  Oslo has a population of about 700,000—and Norway—5.5 million.

Oslo Opera House

The Munch Museum (The Scream)

We couldn't do everything, but next time!

She Lies

The She Lies sculpture in the harbor is a floating glass and stainless steel structure that resembles an iceberg—created by artist Monica Bonvicini to evoke the power of ice and water in the high north. It rotates due to the influence of winds and tides. This sculpture is astounding!

Our first stop was a sleek train station, the largest one I have ever seen, that incorporates a huge mall with another huge mall right across the street. We were looking for Starbucks!  We could not resist walking through the mall, clothing stores, cosmetics shops, at least 5 grocery stores—3 small ones and 2 large ones), florists, furniture, vitamin shops. It was just like any mall but multiply Erie’s mall by at least 5. It actually seemed like the train station morphed into a mall—I didn’t get a photo!

[Aside to Ann and Jim—this is a train station to love!]

Traveling Man statue

outside the train station

Entrance to the train station

One of the smaller grocery stores

Three level mall

Men's fashion!

Outside-I do like public art!

We found Starbucks in the huge mall across the street, purchased our Oslo mug--

Why not Troll Coffee to fill the

Oslo Starbucks cup!

TK is always thinking

We decided to Uber to the Kon Tiki museum, 3 miles away. We were not going to walk that far.  When Janie was in her early teens, she read two books by Thor Heyerdahl—one was Kon Tiki. Briefly, the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl theorized that early people could have sailed on a balsam log raft to the Polynesian Islands and he set out to prove it in 1947.  Heyerdahl and five other men constructed the boat and sailed for 101 days before smashing into a reef at Raroia, an atoll in French Polynesia in the Tuamotus.  All survived and returned safely.  This book must have piqued my sense of adventure as a 13 year old!  As it turned out, DNA has proven a link between Peruvian natives and those of French Polynesia.

Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island  was written in 1957 by Thor Heyerdahl—and describes his investigation into Polynesdian history and culture on Easter Island and other areas. He studied the "moai," thousands of stone statues on one of the most isolated islands in the world.  Obvioulsy there is more to both books, but that is enough to possibly pique your interest. I am definitely going to reread those books. I surely never dreamed I would see a reconstruction of the Kon Tiki!

I am sure this is not a real 

"Easter Island maoi"

A replica of the Kon Tiki

I can picture 8 days on the 

Atlantic Ocean on the U.S. Brig Niagara

I cannot picture 101 days on the 

Kon Tiki on the Pacific Ocean

(closeup)

Kon Tiki--aft

There is actual footage of

the voyage---

On the high seas-count me in...

Another maoi

Heyerdahl built the Ra (made of reeds) 

for a voyage across the Atlantic, 

but it was not successful

Across the street from the Kon Tiki museum was the Fram Museum.  Why not learn about Norwegian exploration into the Arctic and Antarctic? This museum honors the polar exploration of the three great Norwegian explorers, Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, and Roald Amundsen.

The Fram—“forward” in Norwegian—is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions between 1893 and 1912.

The Fram

The Fram, a 3 masted schooner

Janie on the 3 masted Fram

We toured the original Fram inside the museum, 70 ft. length and 20 ft beam. Its sides 4 ft.  thick made of oak.  There was lots of information about the journeys, the preparation, the sled dogs, the crew, the cold. We walked through an area that was like a freezer to experience the chill of an Arctic trip—although I am sure it wasn’t as cold and certainly not the length of time these men endured.  Roald Amundsen is also known for the three year journey he made with a crew of six on the Gjøa, the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage.

We salute Norwegian explorers and their passion!

On the Uber ride back to the center city, we saw cows in a meadow, rolling hills, trees, and suburbs with apartments and single family homes.

Karl Johans Gate (street) 

We walked one more street near the train station and found Vaffelvogna! We enjoyed a folded soft waffle stuffed with strawberries, ice cream, and whipped cream (not from aerosol can).  I hope we find such a treat in Skagen, Denmark tomorrow!

Vaffelvogna

TK captured this amazing image

as we were sailing on the Oslo Fjord

10 p.m. Central European Summer Time

or 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time

TK’s Takes: He wished he had tried the brown cheese at the Vaffelvogna (like caramel).  He saw a large firehouse near the ship.  He bought a troll on Karl Johans Gate (street).  He said he really liked the Scandinavian countries, too bad there is a lot of winter.